Please and Thank You!

“Oh give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people.” Psalm 105:1 KJV “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Psalm 92:1 KJV

The adorable little boy bounded into the kitchen where we were sitting. His mother had just finished peeling and cutting up a banana and placing it in a bowl. Eagerly raising both hands, little Ronnie, Jr. stood on his tip toes in an attempt to get the bowl.

“What do you say?” my friend Lynn patiently asked her three year old son. “Pease!” he responded, as he stretched to reach the fruit in her hand.

After handing the bowl to him, she then queried, “Now what do you say?” “Dank you!” he boomed loudly, beaming because he knew he had given her the response she was seeking. Satisfied, he toddled off and sat down with his bowl, a contented look on his face as he began to eat.

I complimented Lynn on how well-behaved and well-mannered Ronnie, Jr. was. She smiled and looked fondly at her son. “Girl, I believe in teaching children to say “Please” and “Thank you,” she asserted. “I refuse to raise an ill-mannered little ingrate!”

I laughed, but her words rang in my ears later that night as I began preparations for a message. I thought about my friend’s relationship with her little son, and her determination to raise him to be polite and well- mannered. Her desire was to instill in him an automatic expression of gratitude when something was given to or done for him. I could not help but make the same application to our relationship to our heavenly Father. Are we rude in the way we entreat Him, and do we approach Him with a sense of entitlement - rather than gratitude? When He moves on our behalf, do we automatically say, “Thank You?” Do we immediately give Him glory, and then tell others what He has done?

As we enter the holiday season that includes a commemorative day designed to give thanks to the Lord, may we be respectful in the way we “make known our requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Let’s refuse to be “ill-mannered little ingrates,” and instead strive to maintain an “attitude of gratitude” regardless of our circumstances and situations. God is worthy of the praise – and He is deserving of our thanksgiving.

Be sure to tell Him “Thank You!”

Be Blessed.